Analysis of Children's Books on Death and Dying
Author Information
Author(s): Celine Manternach, Hallory Domnick
Primary Institution: University of Northern Iowa
Hypothesis
Children's literature on death and dying varies in the content it presents regarding biological facts, emotional responses, and socio-cultural beliefs.
Conclusion
Authors of children's literature tend to focus more on emotional responses to grief than on socio-cultural practices and beliefs about death.
Supporting Evidence
- 25% of books included biological facts about death.
- 45% of books included emotional responses to death.
- 20% of books included socio-cultural practices and beliefs about death.
- 8% of books used euphemisms for death.
Takeaway
This study looked at kids' books about death and found that most talk about feelings, but not many discuss different beliefs about death.
Methodology
Content analysis of 40 children's books published from 2014 to present, focusing on themes related to death and dying.
Limitations
The study may not capture all available literature on the topic, as it only reviewed books from local libraries and Amazon.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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